Alan's Monday Message for January 15th

This week started with the first executive meeting of the year follwed by the President's cabinet meeting. Our new General Counsel, Lisa Henderson, attended her first executive and cabinet meeting. NMSU is fortunate to have her as our new General Counsel. Later int he day, I attended the College of Arts & Sciences budget meting with Dean Pontelli and Lucille Casas. Thus far, these meetings have been very informative and productive. I believe everyone has come out of the meeting with a better understanding of where each college stands from a budgetary perspective. 

On Tuesday, I had sever 1:1 meetings and we held the first Deans meeting of the year. I shared a number of informational items and reminders. One of the items we started to discuss is the flow of activites throughout the year and whether there is a better system. I will be assembling a task force of relevant stakeholders to review and recommend any possible changes to the various tasks associated with either the academic or calendar year. In the afternoon, I participated in the College of Business's budget meeting with Dean Ashenbaum and Lourdes Alvarado-Salas. 

To satar Wednesday, I had several 1:1 meetings and the budget meeting for the library in the afternoon with Dean Comerford and Samantha Crocker. In the evening, my wife and I attended the Deans monthly dinner. This month, the Deans included their spouses and significant others at Double Eagle de Mesilla. We had a fun and relaxing time. 

On Thursday, I started the morning with breakfast with former Las Cruces Mayor, Ken Miyagishima at Butter Smith. Afterwards, I returned to campus and had a 1:1 meeting before my staff and I went to La Posta de Mesilla to set up for the Unsung Heros Luncheon. This is a new annual event the Provost's office is sponsoring. Approximately fifty unsung heroes attended along with five academic leaders. This is a new tradition I hope gains traction over the years at NMSU to help recognize people who go unnoticed by the general campus community. Our goal is to appreciate our unsung heroes' contributions. While these contributions may not be formally recognized widely like our formal awards programs at the fall or spring convocation or at one of our employee council awards, I want our unsung heroes to know they are very much appreciated and valued for their contributions to NMSU. At the inaugural luncheon, Gloria Brownell from HEST, one of the fifty unsung heroes, was the recipient of a surprise gift drawing from an anonymous donor. The donor was inspired by the aloha sprit I have tried to instill and agreed to provide a roundtrip airfare, hotel, and rental car for two people to visit the Big Island of Hawaii during 2024. There was great energy and I want to thank all the unsung heroes for attending. They truly make a difference for NMSU!

After the luncheon, I completed my annual SET online training. I encourage all employees to complete this mandatory training sooner rather than later. It takes less than two hours. Later in the afternoon, I attended the Faculty Senate meeting on zoom. 

To conclude my week on Friday, I attended to administrative issues in the morning before participating in the Department Head Academy meeting in Corbett Center. Lori Montoya gave an overview of data information available and answered questions. 

Phishing Attempts

It has come to my attention that some people have received a "strange" email from the Provost. The emails are NOT from the Provost or Provost's office. This has been reported to IT Cybersecurity. Carlos Lobato shared with me that this is a phishing attempt. Please do NOT open or click on any embedded links. If you receive other "strange" emails from other people, please report ot IT immediately. 

Announcements

This comming Wednesday, January 17th, Dean Kevin Comerford will be presenting about the Library operations at our now bi-weekly operational learning session in the Health and Social Services Building Annex Auditorium 101 from 11:10am to 12:00pm. Come learn about the libraries and all the nw things happening to support students and faculty. the following operational learning session will be on Wednesday, January 31st, where Ken Glascock, William Nutt, and Donna Ottaviano will be providing an overview of Internal Audit/Ethics Point/OIE/Office of People Relations. 

Retirement

If you have not heard, Dr. Shelly Stovall, Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness is retiring as of February 1, 2024. I want to thank Dr. Stovall for leading our HLC accreditation, as well as monitoring and supporting our disciplinary accreditations, and assessment efforts. As a transition, for the spring 2024 semester, Dr. Barbara Gamillo from Engineering Technology will be serving as a 50% faculty fellow to oversee our HLC accreditation and monitor our disciplinary accreditation efforts. She will also serve as our interim HLC Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO). In addition, Drs. Sarah Daughtery (Music) and Ryan Goss (Plant and Environmental Sciences) will serve in 25% faculty fellows to work with Dr. Gamillo in re-starting and advancing our assessment efforts. All the faculty fellows will report to Senior Associate Provost, Dr. James McAteer. In addition, Erica Surova will oversee the supervision of the Office of Institutional Effectiveness until a replacement search is completed for the Associate Provost for Institutional Effectiveness sometime during the spring semester.  

Vice President of Student Success Renay Scott shared with me this past week that Registrar Dacia Sedillo will be retiring at the end of February. I want to thank Dacia for her many years of service to NMSU. In addition, Dr. Scott shared with me that Seth Minor is moving to NMSU Global to assume a Vice Chancellor position there. Congratulations Seth on this move.  

Provost Thoughts 

Over the winter break, I read two books recommended by President Gogue. The first book was entitled, “Surrounded by Idiots: The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with each in Business” by Thomas Erikson and the second book was “Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People more than they expect” by Will Guidara. I found both of them to be very insightful, even though they were not about higher education or leadership.  

Many people have taken some form of a personality assessment to determine what their typology is. What Erikson does is he articulates how people who are different colors or typologies can learn to work productively together if they understand each other’s tendencies and dispositions. The two big takeaways for me were you must understand and empathize with another person’s typology if you are going to work successfully together. And second, all successful teams are made up of a diversity of typologies and if you only put people who are like you on your team, then you are likely to have a less effective team.  

The second book was refreshing and something I think higher education as an industry could learn a lot from. It is about providing a level of service that is unexpected rather than settling for the norm. By going above and beyond, your efforts will elevate your operations to levels it has not experienced in the past. Guidara is in the restaurant business, but his insights have practicality for any industry including higher education. As I read his book, I thought about the unsung heroes at NMSU and how they go above and beyond to provide a quality enhanced service and experience. Imagine if NMSU’s culture had this embedded in it throughout. We would be a national/international model for student, staff, and faculty support. The revelation is there is nothing stopping us from doing this. It takes every person going above and beyond and giving people more than they expect. In return, they are going to be empowered to improve all aspects of NMSU’s operation. In addition, they are likely to experience a level of satisfaction unlike anything they have experienced in the past. 

NMSU’s Unsung Heroes 

This week, I received one recipient for being NMSU Unsung Hero. This is our first unsung hero for 2024.   

Ruby Salazar;(Senior Payroll Clerk) – As Dr. Judith Flores Carmona shared, I'd like to nominate Ruby Salazar in Payroll Services for her amazing support, guidance, and diligence in helping me the last couple of weeks. She's been beyond patient with me. For these reasons, I nominate Ruby—an unsung heroine indeed! 

Kudos

Athletic Director Mario Moccia shared this picture with me about two of our students and the academic success they are experiencing. Congratulations to Molly and Thomaz!

2024 Insights  

This past week, I shared this brief online communication from Korn Ferry’s CEO, Gary Burnison with all my direct reports. I felt it captured some of the sentiments I have been hoping to see NMSU embed in a transformed culture.  

It took less than a minute—and it just may have saved a life.  

At a celebratory dinner not long ago, someone at our table started to choke. Before anyone else realized what was happening, the wife of our guest of honor jumped out of her chair and rushed over. With what seemed like superhuman strength, she performed the Heimlich maneuver.  

After we had all gathered ourselves, she explained the story behind this story. As a kid, she’d almost choked to death. Having endured that harrowing experience, she instinctively knew what to do … even when no one else knew what to do. She’d vowed to use her personal experience for the direct benefit of another.  

Flash forward to our firm’s year-end town hall calls. I was asked what the headline should be for 2024. Without hesitation, I responded: Selflessness.  

For me, 2020 was all about resilience. In 2021, empathy came to the forefront. 2022, it was hope. 2023, our shared humanity.  

So, how will we live and lead in this new year?  

At times, it may be too easy to focus all our attention on what’s wrong in what’s right, rather than what’s right in what’s wrong. We live in a world in which differences appear to overshadow commonalities. Given our human nature, we may tend to criticize the systems rather than asking how we can each be the solution.  

What if, as we begin 2024, we think more about the progression of others around us? Their well-being, advancement, growth …  

It's selfless—but also symbiotic. As others flourish, so will we.  

We know what the opposite looks like. I can recall the scene from a few years ago—of all places along the Pacific Coast Highway. Several cars had stopped in the median. Rolling slowly past, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. There was a skunk, a plastic soda cup stuck on its head.  

Scampering around frantically, the skunk shook its head in a futile attempt to free itself. People looked on, unwilling to step in—mindful of what the skunk would send out.

Looking back, that scene strikes me as emblematic of what happens when people wander around alone, not knowing which end is up—and which way is forward.

Leadership is measured in the success of others. Easy to intellectualize, but elusive to actualize, leadership is one part strategy, two parts judgment, three parts finesse—and four parts enabling others to achieve.

Perhaps our resolution for the new year could be committing to the concept of We-dership, in which there is more We, Us, and Our—and less I, me, and my.

Look up, look out, look forward … May 2024 bring out our better selves that shine a light for—and on—others.  

Quote of the Week 

“People will forget what you do; they’ll forget what you said. But they’ll never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou